


Through the dark clouds shining

by tungstenpincenez



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Fix-It, Loki (Marvel) Lives, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), References to Norse Religion & Lore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 17:43:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19795855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tungstenpincenez/pseuds/tungstenpincenez
Summary: Something has gone amiss in Loki’s world.





	Through the dark clouds shining

Loki was in disguise in Vanaheim when he felt it, that deep vibration across the universe. He bewilderedly wondered if Thanos had found a different means of fulfilling his mission of ridding the populated realms of half their peoples. He also reflexively feared being hunted by Thanos’ minions in retaliation for his failure to deliver the Space Stone, which he had inexplicably misplaced. He had not discovered his loss until he had required it during his evacuation from the crumbling Asgard. He had been forced to hurriedly seek one of his secret portals to escape the realm.

Thoughts of the destruction of Asgard caused a habitual stabbing pain through him. For it reminded him once again of all he’d lost: his home, his mother, his brother. _His brother._ He choked on his tears. Yes, in the face of their deaths, he had been forced to acknowledge to himself that they were his family. And he missed them terribly.

When he had initially escaped the fate that awaited him in Asgard, he had gone from one realm to another to find safety but was finally forced to concede that he could only find a sense of belonging in the one place he thought to forsake forever. And so, he had returned in disguise and settled among the common folk. He had subsisted by pretending to be a scribe and occasional spokesperson for one or another party during their petty squabbles. His eloquence had gained him a certain level of notoriety, though he had been careful to not attract any attention of the court or its high-ranking officials.

Thus, he had been on Asgard when Malekith had attacked. What none could have foreseen was the royal family’s defeat at the dark elf’s hands. First to die had been his mother. Then his brother. A witness to his death who had managed to escape the slaughter had claimed that Mjolnir had failed to arrive when summoned. 

Odin had been forced to confront the enemy and proved not strong enough. He was avenged, however, by the sudden appearance of one Hela, a sorceress claiming to be the true first-born of Odin. She had raised an army of undead to help dispose of Malekith and his allies across the realms. 

When it became clear that she would not stop at merely ridding the realm of its invaders, desiring to subjugate all the realms to her dominion, there had been fierce whispers among the Asgardians of subduing her. None living remembered her, but the elders had spoken of stories handed down from forebears who had seen her ruthlessness. They had spoken of Odin’s eventual imprisoning of his own daughter in Helheim. But with his death, not only was she freed, there was no other with the power to control her.

At this juncture, when all hope seemed lost, a quiet voice had spoken up and recalled the tale of Thor’s taming of Surtur and of Surtur’s vow to destroy Asgard. The speaker had once been a keeper of the imperial library, and he had heard the ballad written in praise of Thor’s victory. 

Loki had felt a stirring as the discussion for overthrowing Hela continued. Through the next several days, he had pondered and plotted, finally secretly approaching the blind Gatekeeper, to whom he had revealed his true identity, and had told of a portal by which the Asgardians could escape to Vanaheim. Loki would join them once he had ensured Hela’s demise.

And so, by the hands of Loki, trickster god, born of Laufey and self-acclaimed son of Odin, Surtur had been revived by the Eternal Flame to bring destruction upon the realm of Asgard and an end to the supremacy of Hela, who was once again banished to Helheim and from whence could not hope to flee. 

Loki eventually landed in Vanaheim by secret routes long ago devised, but he did not rejoin the exiled Asgardians. Having ensured their well-being, he chose to live among the light elves, pretending to be a student of magic, his talents soon attracting the notice of a lesser court sorcerer, who allowed him to be trained under his tutelage. 

His fellow practitioners congregated to discuss the disturbance in the universe. Over the next few days, they consulted old texts, spoke with other more learned magic wielders, and finally voiced the possibility that a separate universe’s fate had been so great as to have impacted theirs in its wake. There seemed nothing remarkedly changed about their own universe, however. 

The supreme court sorcerer had then conveyed his thought in private to his colleagues that only the combined power of the Infinity Stones could wield such force. 

When Loki heard of this remark through his teacher, he felt a sudden clarity: he was not of this universe. He was of the one where the Infinity Stones had been used. He shuddered at the thought that Thanos had therefore achieved his aim in that universe. Did he wish to return to such a reality? To put himself in harm’s way once again? 

But the one thought, the one feeling that would not leave him was that Thor might still be alive in that universe. And to live out his life here, always wondering…

Loki left a note to his teacher to say that sudden family matters called him home. 

It was fortunate that he had long known of other universes through his curiosity and the easy accessibility of the imperial library. In his youth, he had explored some of them and had learned that they felt different from his own. If forced to explain, he would say that they were of a slight variation of colour to his. Now, therefore, he need only seek that universe whose palette was identical—and more vivid. For in that moment’s clarity, he also realized that this universe was more muted. He had originally assumed that his humiliations first at Thanos’ hands then at Thor’s had affected his senses. 

Loki focussed and stepped through his created portal.

*~*~*~*

Thor woke with a start. He stared about in incomprehension. He was not in his rooms in Asgard. He was aboard the _Benatar_ with his fellow Guardians.

He rubbed his face and thought. No, it had not been a dream of the past. It had been Loki’s call that had roused him from sleep. And even in the face of disappointment, a feeling he experienced much too often, he had to _know_ : was Loki alive? 

After much argument with his friends, they finally agreed to let him off in Vanaheim. Thor thought it a familiar and neutral enough location. The first night of his arrival, he heard Loki’s call once again. And responded.

And waited.

The following morning, he awoke to see his brother staring down at him. He scrambled out of bed.

**Author's Note:**

> just to clarify, Loki’s escape through using the Space Stone caused his timeline to become separate from the main one once the Stones were used then placed back in the past. So, the Stones eventually cease to exist in his timeline and he finds a way back to the main one. And yes, I have a big beef with the writers of Avengers: Endgame playing fast and lose with space-time and cause-effect consequences therein. Why future!Thor could think taking Mjolnir away on the eve of Malekith’s attack was a good idea boils down to writers who know shit about physics but think hey, it’s ok ’cause the ends justify the means and movie magic and all the rot of the science illiterati.
> 
> title taken from “Keep the Home Fires Burning” by Lena Guilbert Ford


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